The cast list was released yesterday for the three consecutive cycles to be presented in September in Toronto. Pavlo Hunka will portray Wotan (replacing Peteris Eglitis), Christian Franz will sing Siegfried, and Susan Bullock and Frances Ginzer will share the role of Br‹nnhilde. (Ginzer had originally been scheduled to sing all three runs of the cycle; she will now appear only in the second, according to The Globe and Mail.)

The amorous twins Siegmund and Sieglinde will be played by Clifton Forbis and Adrianne Pieczonka. Baritones Richard Paul Fink and Richard Berkeley-Steele will sing Alberich and Loge, Judit N_meth sings Fricka and Mats Algren will play Hagen. Among others in the cast are basses Robert Pomakov and Phillip Ens, baritone John Fanning, soprano Laura Whalen and mezzo-sopranos Krisztina Szab‹ and Allyson McHardy.

The nearly sold-out Ring cycle, the largest production in the COC's history, will open on September 12 and have its final performance on October 1. The four-opera, 15-hour production will effectively serve as an inauguration for the Four Seasons Centre, Canada's first purpose-built opera house. (The company's 2006-2007 season officially opens in mid-October with Mozart's CosÐ fan tutte.)

Along with the performances of Das Rheingold, Die Walk‹re, Siegfried and G‹tterd‹mmerung themselves, there will be plenty of activities surrounding the event; the COC wants to keep with Wagner's "original vision of a festival atmosphere around the Ring cycle" (as the company's press release puts it). There will be Wagner-related film screenings, ancillary performances of related music, question-and-answer sessions and moderated discussions with opera experts, as well as three separate full-day symposia examining Wagner's masterpiece.

Full cast lists, along with plenty of other information about the Canadian Ring, are available at www.ringcycle.ca.